I am combining these two blogs together, just catching up from the weeks past.
The article pertaining to classroom discussions that I found the most interesting was the Almasi article. She writes about the difference between what a traditional discussion is [recitation] and what a real discussion is considered now. I think this is significant because the things that we see in our placements, and have in our experience as students throughout the last 16 or so years. We are used to being talked at and seeing our students talked at, instead of talked to. Almasi writes "In a recitation there is little interaction among students, so the teacher is a member of the group whose thoughts might influence a person's interpretation most significantly. The fact that the teacher determines the questions that will be asked, the order of the questions, and the correctness of the students' responses to those questions means that the teacher becomes the ultimate interpretive authority in the discussion context." (p 35-6) This passage describes the traditional things that we see in classrooms--and what I see in my placement over and over again. I think that in situations like our placement--which are all kindergarten--recitation type questions are the place that the teacher needs to start, because the students have not developed in their classroom skills to the extent of older students. They are still learning how to interact with each other in the classroom, and how to react to literature and lessons based on it. As students get older, discussions are significantly important. "In a discussion, studetns tend to assume a multitude of roles that are traditionally reserved for the teacher, such as inquisitor, facilitator, and evaluator as well as the more familiar role of respondent." (p 36)
The Gibbons text talked about the layout of your classroom and how to support your students in a classroom talk. This definitely tied into our readings from last week. My students are not at this point yet, I don't believe, like I said previously. Mike talked about the IRF pattern and I will not repeat him--but I will say that I feel it is a good strategy, like we talked about with ELLs... although you are adapting things for your ELL students, it will work well for your students whose first language is English as well. She goes on to mention different strategies for engaging your students in a talk setting. One that stuck out is journal writing. For me, it's the only one I have seen in my placement. Our students will listen to a read-to and then go back to their seats and "journal" about what they have just heard (p 48). They are to write what they are journaling about in their own words [spelling in their own way, the best they can], and then draw a picture. This actually ties nicely into the end of the Tompkins article (p 105-7).
The Tompkins text, as it was for Mike, was very close to what I have been seeing in my placement. From the schedule that Mrs. McCloskey has for her class (p 81), I feel like my CT has been doing almost all of the same things with her students. Literacy is one of the most important components in the Kindergarten classroom. By having the students interact with print in so many different ways, they are able to connect to it in different ways. Literacy Centers (p 83) are also something that are really big in my placement. The games are switched out every few weeks focusing on different aspects of literacy. There are seatwork centers and games of all different sorts, with three to four students in each center group. "The two teachers circulate around the classroom, monitoring chirldren's work and taking advantage of teachable moments to clarify misunderstandings, reinforce previous lessons, and extend children's learning." (p 82) It is important that during centers and all lessons surrounding literacy that the students feel supported, but are still able to learn on their own. I have seen a lot more of the things in this chapter--particularly the traveling books (p 100), which get swapped out each week in our classroom. Involving the family members of the students really helps them learn in a different way. Because the parents are encouraged to promote literacy at home, the students have more support than they would otherwise have.
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Jenae,
ReplyDeleteWhen reading your post it struck me as well said, and it brought up a topic that needs to be talked about more in teacher preperation programs. While being in elementary school through high school it seemed that every day we were being talked at by the teacher and it was very easy to lose focus and not gain anything from that classtime. I remember when the teacher would tell us that the next day in class we would be having a discussion that is the opposite of recitation discussion, and I remember being very excited for that class the next day. I know for a fact that I gained more from discussing a subject with my peers in a discussion led by us and guided by the teacher, then I ever did by just listening to the teacher talk at us. When a student is listening to their peers talk it allows for disagreements to occur more openly which is good, it is great when students questions thoughts and ideas. When a teacher says something, many times a student is too shy to question what is being said, or the student does not think to question the teacher because it is assumed by them that whatever the teacher says is correct.
With all of that being said, recitation discussion does have its place in the classroom, teachers need to be able to pass information along to students in order for more active discussions to take place. It is important though, that as teachers we try and balance the two ways of discussion as best as possible.
I like how you talked about the journal work that we have seen in our placement and connected that work to Gibbons' discussion on effective classroom talk. I feel that the students benefit tremendously from working in their journals because they are exploring their own ideas and practicing with language, both written and in picture form. One obvious benefit that I see from this is the work with sounding out and spelling their journal entries all by themselves. The point is that the students are not guessing at the spelling, but actually sounding out the words and connecting individual sounds to letter. Jenae you pointed out another benefit of the journals that I had not considered, the oral language work and classroom talk. Thinking about it now, I see why my CT brings the class back together after they finish a journal entry so each student can share their work with everyone. This little exercise forces the students to take their individual work and verbally describe to their peers what they did. This is great practice and a nice start for these students as they develop the skills necessary to engage in productive classroom talk.
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